A retired woman in her seventies lost about HK$1.4 million after advertising second-hand furniture and musical instruments for HK$8,000 on Facebook, police said.
The suspected fraudsters posed as buyers and moved the conversation to WhatsApp. They claimed payment would be made through a second-hand trading platform, then sent a fake payment link and told her to transfer money to activate and verify the payment function.
She was told the money would be returned after verification and made four transfers totalling about HK$1.4 million. She realised she had been deceived after the supposed buyer stopped responding.
Police said they received more than 200 online-shopping scam reports during the previous week, involving losses of more than HK$5.2 million. They warned that sellers do not need to transfer money to receive payment, and that requests to pay first, receive money later or pay for verification before a refund are scam tactics. Anyone unsure about a payment process should check through an official channel instead of using a link supplied by a stranger.